Are you considering working as a medical scribe? Becoming a medical scribe is a unique and valuable experience, especially for students pursuing a future career in medicine. There is a lot of information that outlines Medical Scribing, but each company is slightly different.
With the EPPA Scribe Program, the primary goal for a medical scribe is to help improve the overall experience for both the provider and the patient. Scribes relieve providers of time consuming documentation during the patient encounter and allow them to instead focus their attention on their patients. In return, patients can find comfort in knowing that they have their provider’s full attention because the scribe is there to handle the note-taking and charting.
To help inform you further about medical scribes we put together this list of things you need to know about being a medical scribe with EPPA.
Things to Know About the Job
1. A medical scribe accompanies a medical provider into examination rooms. The primary task of the medical scribe is to type and take short-hand notes for the provider so that the provider can focus their attention on the patient.
2. Medical scribes work a variety of shifts including daytime, evenings, weekends, and holidays. In healthcare, many shifts last between 10-14 hours, but most medical scribes shifts are about 8-10 hours in length.
3. Medical scribes work in a variety of different specialties and departments. EPPA Scribes assist providers in emergency departments, urgent care facilities (Urgency Rooms), and various outpatient specialties (Orthopedics, Dermatology, Oncology, and more!).
4. Being a medical scribe is more than taking notes. Scribes become familiar with medical terminology, differential diagnosis, expediting provider workflow and efficiency, and an overall exposure to clinical medicine.
Why Scribe?
5. Becoming a medical scribe is an excellent way to obtain clinical experience.
6. To be admitted to Medical or PA School Programs, you must have some healthcare related experience, medical scribing being one of the few paid clinical experience opportunities offered without prior certification.
7. Scribes are compensated for their work in both monetary and non-monetary benefits.
8. As a scribe you work alongside a physician, physician assistant, and nurse practitioner each shift, becoming familiar with different levels of patient care. EPPA Scribes work with all of our providers over the course of their employment with us and are not restricted to a single provider.
9. Not only does working as a medical scribe provide you with clinical experience, but you’ll also get a glimpse of how healthcare teams work and collaborate in a clinical setting.
Becoming a Medical Scribe
10. Becoming a medical scribe is becoming an increasingly competitive task. At EPPA, our scribes have a minimum requirements of a GPA of 3.0 or higher, pre-health experiences, and the ability to work 16-20hrs/week.
11. Medical Scribing with EPPA does not require you to have a completed undergraduate degree to prior certification. All EPPA Scribe Training is paid and completed prior in the classroom, online, or 1:1 in the clinical setting.
12. Many EPPA Scribes stay with us for 12-24 months and often work with us full-time in their gap year as they prepare their application to professional school.
Scribe with EPPA
Being a part of the EPPA Scribe Program is a unique experience that we encourage all pre-health students and graduates to consider on their path to professional school. Take a look at our locations and our FAQs before applying today!